ISU Bengal

Issue date: 2/22/06 Section: Life

Are you looking for a new way to burn a few calories? Lillian Moore and the ISU International Folk Dance Group, ISU and Friends says that their international folk dancing is a great form of aerobic exercise, and believe it or not-fun?

The ISU International Folk Dance Group is an ASISU funded organization who has been on campus for over 12 years. The group meets twice a month with an instructor from Idaho Falls to learn new dances- to date the group knows over 150 dances.

Moore states that the mission of the organization is "to share an appreciation of other cultures and their dance."

"Dance is such an integral part of every society and culture. You can get a different feel from each of them,"said Moore

Twice a year the ISU International Folk Dance Group, ISU and Friends host a international dance workshop at ISU. This weekend, DeWayne Young, a retired BYU and BYU Hawaii instructor, and previous instructor of the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble will be overseeing the event. Moore expects that Young will be teaching Romanian, Scottish Greek, and German dances at this weekend's workshop.

Moore says that even today international folk dancing is still very a popular pastime.

"Even now when I go back to Washington D.C. where I grew up, I have two or three opportunities every night to go somewhere in the greater metropolitan area and go folk dancing," said Moore. "It really popular everywhere, except at ISU"

Moore says that the 'core' of the ISU International Folk Dance Group, ISU and Friends is made up of older people. Moore thinks that when young people come to the workshops they think "this is an old folks activity" and leave -but nothing could be farther from the truth.

"If we had young people attending, that would attract other young people. We get some young people, but then they graduate and leave. It takes young people to attract young people," says Moore

International folk dancing is not a easy activity either. Each dance has to be taught, and it takes time to learn the dances well according to Moore.

"The very first dance I ever saw was a Croatian dance, where you hop on one foot while holding a basket, it's quite lively, but some people who do it for the first time can think 'this is exhausting,' says Moore.

The ISU International Folk Dance Group, and Friends workshop, will be held this Saturday, Feb. 25th from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the PSUB ballroom. For more information contact Lillian Moore at 237-9727.

Melissa M. Cisneros is a senior majoring in Sociology, and can be reached at bglife@isu.edu

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools